The Ancient Allan eBook

“Yes, O King,” he said in a mincing voice,
“let him enter and kill a lion. But if
he fail, then let a lion kill him. There are some
hungry in the palace den and it is not fit that the
King’s ears should be filled with empty words
by foreigners from Egypt.”

“So be it,” said the King. “Egyptian,
you have brought it on your own head. Prove that
you can do what you say and I will give you great
honour. Fail, and to the lions with him who lies
of lions. Still,” he added, “it is
not right that you should go alone. Choose therefore
one of these lords to keep you company; he who would
put you to the test, if you will.”

Now I looked at the scented noble who turned pale
beneath his paint. Then I looked at the fat eunuch,
Houman, who opened his mouth and gasped like a fish,
and when I had looked, I shook my head and said as
though to myself,

“Not so, no woman and no eunuch shall be my
companion on this quest,” whereat the King and
all the rest laughed out loud. “The dwarf
and I will go alone.”

“The dwarf!” said the King. “Can
he hunt lions also?”

“No, O King, but perchance he can smell them,
for otherwise how shall I find them in that thicket
within an hour?”

“Perchance they can smell him. How is the
ape-man named?” asked the King.

“Bes, O King, after the god of the Egyptians
whom he resembles.”

“Dare you accompany your master on this hunt,
O Bes?” inquired the King.

Then Bes looked up, rolling his yellow eyes, and answered
in his thick and guttural voice,

“I am my master’s slave and dare I refuse
to accompany him? If I did he might kill me,
as the King of kings kills his slaves. It is better
to die with honour by the teeth of a lion, than with
dishonour beneath the whip of a master. So at
least we think in Ethiopia.”

“Well spoken, dwarf Bes!” exclaimed the
King. “So would I have all men think throughout
the East. Let the words of this Ethiop be written
down and copies of them sent to the satraps of all
the provinces that they may be read to the peoples
of the earth. I the King have decreed it.”

CHAPTER V

THE WAGER

While the scribes were at their work I bowed before
the King and prayed his leave and I and the dwarf
Bes might get to ours.

“Go,” he said, “and return here
within an hour. If you do not return tidings
of your death shall be sent to the satrap of Egypt
to be told to your wives.”

“I thank the King, but it is needless, for I
have no wives, which are ill company for a hunter.”

“Strange,” he said, “since many
women would be glad to name such a man their husband,
at least here among us Easterns.”

Walking backwards and bowing as we went, Bes and I
returned to our chariot. There we stripped off
our outer garments till Bes was naked save for his
waistcloth and I was clad only in a jerkin. Then
I took my bow, my arrows and my knife, and Bes took
two spears, one light for throwing and the other short,
broad and heavy for stabbing. Thus armed we passed
back before the Easterns who stared at us, and advanced
to the edge of the thicket of tall reeds that was
full of lions.